Romania, Azerbaijan could exchange experience on renewables’ dev’t – minister (Exclusive)

BAKU, Azerbaijan, Feb.3 By Leman Zeynalova – Trend: Both the Caspian Sea and the Black Sea have been recognized as having significant offshore wind potential and the two countries may include in their development strategies important investments in this field and could initiate discussions and exchanges of experience about the development of this sector, Virgil-Daniel Popescu, Romanian Minister of Energy said in an exclusive interview with Trend. He pointed out that at European level, the energy sector is going through the process of transition to a decarbonized and long-term sustainable economy. “The role of oil and gas will change in a climate-neutral economy, but both will retain a significant share in the energy mix in the transition process. We know that Azerbaijan has set ambitious targets for the share of renewable and alternative energy in the total energy consumption mix and has under consideration the implementation of some important projects. Romania has a significant potential in terms of wind, hydro, solar, geothermal or biomass sources and important projects are underway or undergoing assessment,” added the minister. Popescu noted that Romania's energy priorities will focus on new investments needed to increase the contribution of renewable energy in the energy mix, including exploiting the potential of offshore renewable energy in the Black Sea, large-scale storage of electricity and use of hydrogen. “Recent assessments regarding the Black Sea coast area estimated that Romania’s offshore wind potential at the Black Sea is of over 70,000 MW. Romania is also interested in developing of hydrogen produced from renewable and low carbon sources and appropriate infrastructure. In many places, renewable energy sources are already competing successfully at market prices with fossil fuel-based technologies. Oil and gas companies need to consider expanding their business area by investing in renewable energy projects and I am convinced that future discussions between relevant companies from our countries will enable us to identify and put into practice important projects in this challenging and promising sector,” added the energy minister. --- Follow the author on Twitter: @Lyaman_Zeyn